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Sheldon Whitehouse's Racism Is Excused Due to His Opponents Using It

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Jun 22, 2021
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

This is Townhall's daily VIP feature, where we will focus coverage on the deeply flawed aspects of journalism in the nation. We'll look to bring accountability to the mishaps, misdeeds, manipulations, malpractice, and manufactured narratives in the mainstream media.

06.22.21 (Update)

 Prose And Contradiction – THE NEW YORK TIMES

The controversy over Biden's conflict with his political views and his faith continues, and the press has become exposed by having to take an uncomfortable position of making religious fervency cool again. Note how suddenly being religious is no longer a cause to discount someone's opinion, and instead, Biden's character is strengthened because he attends services.

But in doing so, The Times has to sell another contradiction. There has been an attempt to say the GOP is fading and conservatism is a dying political movement – just ignore the gains last November in the House and state legislatures. But when it comes to the need to criticize religious leaders in reference to Biden, conservatives are an all-powerful entity that can wield power over the Catholic Church.

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Artisanal-Crafter Narratives – POLITICO

At Politico Magazine, they engaged in the act of trying to recalibrate and redefine an entire political party – because tens of millions of people think and act as a unit. The latest is that the GOP has been transformed into The Barstool Party, a result of supposedly adopting the anti-PC stances of Barstool Sports President Dave Portnoy. 

The logic behind this is a useless poll from February asking who Republicans favored for president in 2024, and Portnoy appeared on the list. That is, he was offered up as a selection, but he was not actually selected as a choice by respondents. But this lack of hard data was enough for them to go on relabeling the entire GOP.

Reporting On The Mirror – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • The paper defends Maggie Haberman from her own actions.

It happens so often as to become more than comical, but once again we see major journalists crying out when they become subject to the actions and behavior they engage in themselves. Not long ago, Tucker Carlson was accused of abusive behavior when he reported on The NY Times social media expert Taylor Lorenz. It was ironic, given Lorenz frequently leverages her position as a journalist to target people online. It was mystifying when you heard what constituted the attack – Carlson mentioned Lorenz by name and he posted her photo in his report. The photo was the same she uses in her bio at the paper.

Now Carlson is under fire anew, this time for being critical of Maggie Haberman. This is deemed an outrage, and it led to Times Managing Editor Dean Baquet to come out with an official defense of his columnist...from being criticized.

The obliviousness behind this is exposed by a statement from CNN's Oliver Darcy, who unintentionally exposes the dichotomy of outrage.

  • "Fox News published a hit piece targeting Haberman, accusing her of being unable to 'quit' Trump and going soft on Biden. And that article came after Haberman knocked Fox's media team on Twitter the day before – for the outlet's dishonest coverage of the industry."

How...dare they...?!

Low Octane Gas Lighting – WASHINGTON POST

The Post decided they would go after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for his recent signing into law the ban of Critical Race Theory in the state's public schools. In order to refute his position, the Nation's Newspaper turned to a voice of authority. Wait, sorry – that is inaccurate. The Washington Post has a 17-year-old student trying to bring the rebuttal to the governor because no one else could possibly be found who has a bit more experience. Or knowledge. Or authority, wisdom, gravitas, study, or reasoning. We hear about The 1619 Project, but not how this piece of agitprop has been widely denounced by numerous historians.

The other thing that undermines her effort is this "Greta Thunberg of CRT" gives us her bona fides; she was in the International Baccalaureate program, also an Encore Public Voices Fellow with The OpEd Project from Winter Park, Florida, and graduated with honors and now is studying at Princeton University in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs – all things she accomplished without CRT being instilled.

Prewritten Field Reports – THE DAILY BEAST

  • This almost sounds like Don Lemon doxxed himself.

On Tucker Carlson's show last night, he went after Don Lemon, after the CNN host lectured others about having privilege when it comes to race. Tucker – after pointing out, via a photo, that Lemon has a blackface cookie jar in his kitchen – made mention of the fact that Lemon lives in an affluent neighborhood in New York's exclusive Sag Harbor. 

After this segment, Justin Baragona thought he had the perfect retort, noting Carlson once flipped out when people were protesting at his private residence after it was revealed by The New York Times. He then accuses Carlson of doing the same thing, or worse, by mentioning the city and showing the photos from inside Lemon's home. Small problem with Baragona's exposé – Lemon himself intentionally outed these details a few years back.

News Avoidance Syndrome – VOX

  • This is why you wait and reread what you wrote.

One of the most dependable sources of media mirth is the SCOTUS correspondent for Vox, Ian Milhiser. Whenever a decision is handed down that Ian does not like, we can count on him to heave legal logic – common sense – over the transom in order to make his point. 

Case in point; Ian did not agree with the decision the Court made regarding the NCAA and athletic compensation. In fact, it had him so upset he spouted off in this fashion.

Clearly, the definition of "unanimous" is lost on the legal expert. It takes some remarkable skill to contradict oneself within one sentence, but Ian is up to the task.

06.22.21 (Original)

Artisanal-Crafted Narratives – WASHINGTON POST

Laura Meckler did a lengthy hit piece on Mark Rufo, the leading voice battling Critical Race Theory and known for bringing not only all the receipts but also the warranties, the rebate forms, and the shipping manifests. Rufo looked over the article in WaPo, and he dissected it, exposing all the flaws and lies and backing them up with evidence in a detailed thread.

This is the kind of exposure the major news outlets are not used to, and it needs to happen more often.

Both Kinds Of Standards – AMEE VANDERPOOL

  • Democrats are not guilty if the accusation is due to politics.

News has been flying that Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has been found to be a member at one of the most exclusive beach clubs in the nation. This is notable because the politician who has been very vocal on racial issues is not only part of the all-white club, he and his wife have an ownership stake in the enterprise.

Normally this type of deep-seated racism would cause a firestorm, especially in these racially charged times. But Whitehouse is a Democrat – so let the excuse-making commence.

See, this is only in the news because those Republicans are making it into a big deal. Otherwise, the man who has accused opponents of racism while he pledged years ago to quit his membership at the racist club and instead has grown into an investor position in the racist club would not be a big deal.

Gilded Reframe – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • Not to suggest there is a pattern to this sort of thing…

On the topic of excusing away Democratic racism, Virginia's checkered Governor Ralph Northam is ending his term soon, so, of course, The New York Times felt in this climate of racial upheaval it was a swell time to grant a glowing profile interview as a going-away present to Gov. Blackface. Or is that Gov. Whitehood?

Turns out Northam is still insisting he has no clue which individual in the infamous photo was him, but the answer is moot given neither choice is acceptable. But, it seems acceptable in the lengthy backscratch interview with Astead Herndon. What makes this all the more galling is that Herndon just sent out a message complaining about Tucker Carlson and the accepted relationships contributing to the whiteness of D.C.

Prose And Contradiction – JAY ROSEN

  • Defining attacks is based entirely on the individual, not the action.

While citing Ed Zitron's rather stunted Substack article (I thought "Official" journalists hated Substack, by the way), Rosen adds on to the narrative that poor Taylor Lorenz had been "attacked" by Tucker Carlson weeks back, adding in that these bad faith criticisms should be met with corporate outrage.

Not only is it telling that the words "attack" and "bad faith" only get applied to critics from the right, but when the same activity is seen on the Left, all you hear are crickets. Recall last week when Kaitlan Collins was challenged verbally by President Biden, then had a number of journalists calling out her line of questioning – none of those aggressive actions were elevated to the same level.